The Uncomfortable Relationship Between Science Fiction and Italy: Film, Humor, and Gender

Raffaella Baccolini

Publisher:

Liverpool University Press

DOI:10.5949/liverpool/9781781380383.003.0011

This chapter presents an overview of Italian science fiction cinema and an analysis of two films that stand out in the recent production: Gabriele Salvatores’s Nirvana (1997) and Paolo Guzzanti and Igor Skofic’s Fascisti su Marte (2006). Because of its limited budget and appeal, Italian science fiction cinema has not received serious attention in the country and has been judged imitative of American productions. While some films, mainly directed to the domestic market, are often comedies and farces, those made also for the foreign market are generally more serious, adventurous dramas. Humor, albeit intentional or not, is a common feature of most Italian science fiction cinema. By critically using humor with regard to gender politics, Salvatores’s Nirvana and Guzzanti and Skofic’s Fascisti su Marte stand apart while being recognizably Italian. In both, humor is a central element and is used to criticize the modern human condition and Italian politics.

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